Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting on Friday evening with leaders of 19 Opposition parties, including the chief ministers of some Opposition-ruled states, amid efforts to boost Opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the National Democratic Alliance government.
The meeting assumes significance as the Maha Vikas Agahdi government in Maharashtra led by Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress is facing a turmoil after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that the state's Home minister gave a target to cops for collect Rs 100 crore every month.
'Soniaji is like a mother to the party. We revere her even now'
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi met leaders of the G-23 grouping to resolve internal party issues, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said "indulging the dissenters too much" will encourage more dissent.
Gandhi had decided not to celebrate her birthday because of rape incidents and assaults on women in the country.
When he turned 53 last year, celebrations were rather subdued. Two weeks after the Congress won 99 seats (including a personal double victory in Wayanad and Raebareli), hoardings and banners wishing Rahul Gandhi on his 54th birthday appeared around 10 Janpath (where his mama and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi lives) and the Congress HQ in Delhi.
The head of the Congress's first family has never been an astute politician, points out Amulya Ganguli.
Convert the Haryana result into a blessing in disguise; make the calamity into an opportunity. Maharashtra was always the big ticket game in town; MVA must win it. The Congress should shift headquarters to Mumbai for the entire month. Show urgency and a hunger to win, asserts Sanjay Jha.
'Let me reveal for the first time that around August 2019 Congress President Sonia Gandhi told the Congress leadership and CWC members to form a consensus over the name of a non-Gandhi leader.'
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and several other famous faces were seen at polling booths, exercising their franchise in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said after almost 12 months of Gandhian agitation, the repeal of three farm laws is a 'victory of the will of 62 crore farmers and sacrifices of more than 700 farmers who laid their lives for this struggle,' and hoped that the Bharatiya Janata Party government would have drawn some lessons for future.
The draft environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2020, which involves the procedure of issuing environmental clearances to various projects, was issued by the Environment Ministry in March this year and has received thousands of suggestions from the public.
As Congress President Sonia Gandhi turns 70, here's recalling her extraordinary life in pictures.
The Congress has consciously contested on a lesser number of seats in this Lok Sabha election as part of a strategy to keep the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) together and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said.
Once considered the unlikely heir to the political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving president of India's grand old party.
The launch coincides with the birthday of Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
Sonia Gandhi's prime ministerial ambition for her son has been a major factor in the Congress's internal politics since 2004, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'It can be said without hesitation that Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi enjoy perfect relations of mother-daughter-son all together in the family.' 'But their worldview is different and their style of functioning is different and their favourites in the party are different people.'
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi are likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli and Amethi seats, respectively, sources said on Thursday.
She noted that the democracy was at peril under the Modi government and alleged that it was misusing and abusing its mandate in the "most dangerous" fashion, the sources said.
Sources in the Congress and NCP said the draft CMP and allocation of portfolios between the three parties will be discussed in the meeting.
Watch the video to find out what is Rahul's 'kinda Jam Session'.
'I think 50 per cent of the problem will be solved if the top leadership in Delhi becomes accessible'
'I have always been a 'sevak' of the Gandhi family and whatever responsibility the Gandhi family has entrusted to its sevak, I will fulfil it'
The duo is unlikely to visit the neighbouring parliamentary constituency of Amethi, from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost the Lok Sabha polls.
She was admitted to the private facility in New Delhi at 7 pm for 'routine tests and investigations', the hospital said in a health bulletin.
Amid a series of deliberations over a strategy for upcoming general and assembly elections by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, a group of senior leaders of the Congress has given its recommendations to party president Sonia Gandhi and left it to her to take a call on them and initiate organisational changes.
The leaders who Gandhi met included Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari. She is likely to meet some other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days.
Since it was formed 58 years ago, Haryana has had Jat chief ministers for 33 of those.
While Sonia Gandhi has been avoiding attending public events, Rahul Gandhi left on a short personal visit abroad only on Sunday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the Preamble to the Constitution is very well there in NCERT textbooks of Class VI as he refuted charges made in this regard by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJP in the Bihar assembly, and added "now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
Before filing her nomination papers at the Collectorate Rae Bareli, the UPA chairperson held a roadshow and offered puja at the Congress central office.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan who heads the group said he had submitted the report on the party's performance in Kerala, Assam and Puducherry and that the assessment for West Bengal was underway.
This was Sonia's first major international event having risen to senior level by winning a gold in the National Championships in 2016. Last year, she won a gold in the Serbia Cup. She won a bronze in the Ahmet Comert Boxing Tournament this year.
Several BJP leaders recalled Kejriwal's claim of probity and past allegations of corruption against politicians, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar among others, while seeking their arrest, as they claimed that he has been exposed now.
Patel, 71, who was critical for a few days, was admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram on November 15 after he developed complications. His son Faisal said he died at 3.30 am.
Rahul described the Rafale deal as a 'systematic robbery' from the Indian defence forces.
The Delhi Jal Board has deployed patrol teams for the main water distribution network that carries raw water to the water treatment plants and then from them to the main underground reservoirs in different parts of the city, Atishi said in the letter.
